Name: Marina "Marnie" Burrell Age: 20 Universe: The Golden Hour in the year 2012. Almost identical to the real world, but there was once a country called Balfour which was swallowed up by its neighbors after it imploded upon itself. Belief still functions on a very small scale in the Balfourian diaspora but on the whole Others are not believed in and they would like to keep it that way.
Personality: Where most people have a thousand layers to their personality, Marnie has just three. She has the side of herself she presents to people and the side that comes out when the first cracks. The third, well, she doesn't like to discuss the third. She isn't a bad person, she's simply never learned how to stop acting and so can only be genuine when pushed to extremes.
The face she fronts is charming, smiley and a bit simple. No one appreciates an intelligent woman, she's found, so she plays up the ditz angle. Marnie limits her vocabulary, pretends not to understand literary references and defers to others' judgment. No one ever asked her to behave this way, but Marnie assumes it's expected of her. She's her own worst enemy because she has no faith in herself. In her mind, it's better to be good at the game than be artless and unsuccessful.
Her effervescence fades so fast when she's upset. A lifetime of shoving feelings down, of acting the ingenue, the perfect daughter, has given her a hair-trigger. Marnie will say the cruelest things you've ever heard if pushed past her breaking point, then stew in her guilt rather than apologize. She doesn't mean to be hurtful, but sometimes the words come spilling out. Quite judgmental and keen, it's hard for her to ignore the flaws of the people around her as she smiles and smiles.
At her core, she's a good person who doesn't believe that good people exist in this world. She's convinced that she has to act in order to seem good. Nothing about Marnie is what it seems unless you succeed in breaking her down.
Since she was a little girl, Marnie has felt like there is another person inside of her. She calls this person her 'other'. The other speaks to her, which she doesn't mind. She's long since grown used to the woman's presence in her mind and would even consider her an ally. However, the other isn't content to simply treat Marnie's life like a movie to be commented on. At times, Marnie can see the other as if she were there in the room with her. A white-haired woman with her face and a great pregnant belly. If the other emerges when something has seriously upset Marnie, her skirts are drenched in blood. Seeing the other shakes her and many have wondered over the usually composed actress' panic attacks. What frightens Marnie most is when the other takes over. She's never been hurt during a period where she lost time, but her affect completely changes. She becomes flighty, imperious, paranoid. She speaks strange words and sings strange hymns. There is a history of mental illness in the Burrell family and so her parents dismiss her eccentricities as part of their curse, but Marnie doesn't feel sick. The other is real.
PB: Emilia Clarke
Physical description: Marnie is, as most actresses are, quite beautiful. Her long brown hair falls in curls about her shoulders and her green-brown eyes seem to shine with a light of their own. On the screen, she appears curvy and perhaps a bit on the heavy side, but that's only the camera. Most people are struck with how very small she is in person. At 5'3" and 100 or so odd pounds, Marnie is almost pocket-sized.
Her style is simple, yet chic. She tries to think of herself as an Audrey Hepburn-type (which is how she's being marketed), so her clothes are classic and understated. Alone in London, though, with a pair of sunglasses on, she's a regular tomboy. Put her in a pair of skinny jeans and a cardigan and Marnie is as happy as can be.
Background: A child of means, Marnie never wanted for anything growing up. Her childhood was rather lonely, but she had more than her share of toys and pets to keep her company. Raised by nannies and old family friends, she has a deep-seated resentment of her parents. A surgeon and a politician respectively, she understands that their jobs are important, she simply can't accept that they're more important than her. It's lucky, Marnie thinks, that she's an only child. One neglected daughter is better than two.
Marnie went to all the best schools. She earned top marks, starred in all the drama productions. Really, she excelled at anything she tried without really trying. Heaped with praise, Marnie soon became full of herself. If everyone else found her so brilliant, why should she deny the world her talent? Of course she'd never say anything like that aloud. She has an enormous amount of pride, but plays the part of a humble, bashful girl very well.
Before she enrolled in university, she featured in her first motion picture. Since, she's played the same role about five times. Marnie is always the innocent daughter kidnapped by terrorists, the virginal priestess who must instruct the hero, or the innocent friend of the crass female protagonist. It's a job, isn't it, but she still resents the typecasting.
After filming a well-received SyFy series, Marnie agreed to go on her producer's book tour. Chronicling the writing process as well as the shoot, the book is an important tool for aspiring filmmakers, or so Marnie tells herself. When push comes to shove, she's just happy to get out of America for a few weeks.
As for Moirine-
It's no small wonder that she was discovered by the cancellari shortly after Allen fled. Nearly seven months pregnant, it was deemed too horrific to hang her for her transgressions. Instead, she was imprisoned at the Hold and largely ignored by her captors. There was a new Occia, after all. She was just a slut who turned her back on Cita. No one was there to plead for her life. The Hour hated her, Others hated her, the Citadel hated her... With Allen gone, she was truly alone. Instead of weeping and feeling sorry for herself, Moirine grew angrier by the day. She muttered to herself, cursed anyone who was fool enough to show their face to her. If it hadn't been for her child, the only thing she could muster love for, she would have dashed her brains on the walls of her cell.
When the baby began ripping its way out of her, no midwife was sent for. The prison guards watched her suffer, listened to her scream. Moirine had been prepared for agony, but this was something more. Something was wrong. She called out for her brother to come to her, but he never did. For hours, she faded in and out of consciousness, always awakening to a worse pain. Finally, when she'd bled herself as white as her hair, Moirine took her last breath.
Naturally, the guards gossiped about what they'd seen and heard. Rumors swelled about the former Occia. Bitch got what she deserved, some said. Cita's will realized. They called her a brother-fucker, a false woman who deserved to die screaming a thousand times. Midwives lit incense and said wards against Moirine to keep her from coming for the baby she'd been denied. It didn't take long for Tyrol to weave her into their folklore.
And so she came back. Well, in some capacity, she came back. Riding inside a baker's daughter with red hair but the same green eyes and full lips, Moirine listened to the way the people who had once loved her spoke of her. Deserved to die a thousand bloody deaths... The baker's daughter was trampled in one of the riots that precluded the fall of Balfour. The next reincarnation was a Vaux girl. She was cut to pieces when the common people tore down her family's manse. Again and again she came back only to be slaughtered.
It's happened so many times and in so many places that Moirine doesn't care anymore. She's learned to sense her vessel's looming death and retreats so far inside of her that she doesn't feel a thing. She doesn't even bother to warn the poor girls. After all, she received no warning.
She has taken a liking to Marnie, though. Marina is an old family name. Marina Burrell... She's desperate to know whether this girl is a descendant of her Jude. Moirine still isn't sure whether her son died with her or was whisked away to an orphanage or, worse, the citadel.
Skills: Decent fencer (you don't walk off the set of a fantasy film without learning anything), excellent tree-climber, good sense of direction, good actress, decent singer, because of her 'other' she knows quite a lot of stray facts.
no subject
Name: Marina "Marnie" Burrell
Age: 20
Universe: The Golden Hour in the year 2012. Almost identical to the real world, but there was once a country called Balfour which was swallowed up by its neighbors after it imploded upon itself. Belief still functions on a very small scale in the Balfourian diaspora but on the whole Others are not believed in and they would like to keep it that way.
Personality: Where most people have a thousand layers to their personality, Marnie has just three. She has the side of herself she presents to people and the side that comes out when the first cracks. The third, well, she doesn't like to discuss the third. She isn't a bad person, she's simply never learned how to stop acting and so can only be genuine when pushed to extremes.
The face she fronts is charming, smiley and a bit simple. No one appreciates an intelligent woman, she's found, so she plays up the ditz angle. Marnie limits her vocabulary, pretends not to understand literary references and defers to others' judgment. No one ever asked her to behave this way, but Marnie assumes it's expected of her. She's her own worst enemy because she has no faith in herself. In her mind, it's better to be good at the game than be artless and unsuccessful.
Her effervescence fades so fast when she's upset. A lifetime of shoving feelings down, of acting the ingenue, the perfect daughter, has given her a hair-trigger. Marnie will say the cruelest things you've ever heard if pushed past her breaking point, then stew in her guilt rather than apologize. She doesn't mean to be hurtful, but sometimes the words come spilling out. Quite judgmental and keen, it's hard for her to ignore the flaws of the people around her as she smiles and smiles.
At her core, she's a good person who doesn't believe that good people exist in this world. She's convinced that she has to act in order to seem good. Nothing about Marnie is what it seems unless you succeed in breaking her down.
Since she was a little girl, Marnie has felt like there is another person inside of her. She calls this person her 'other'. The other speaks to her, which she doesn't mind. She's long since grown used to the woman's presence in her mind and would even consider her an ally. However, the other isn't content to simply treat Marnie's life like a movie to be commented on. At times, Marnie can see the other as if she were there in the room with her. A white-haired woman with her face and a great pregnant belly. If the other emerges when something has seriously upset Marnie, her skirts are drenched in blood. Seeing the other shakes her and many have wondered over the usually composed actress' panic attacks. What frightens Marnie most is when the other takes over. She's never been hurt during a period where she lost time, but her affect completely changes. She becomes flighty, imperious, paranoid. She speaks strange words and sings strange hymns. There is a history of mental illness in the Burrell family and so her parents dismiss her eccentricities as part of their curse, but Marnie doesn't feel sick. The other is real.
PB: Emilia Clarke
Physical description: Marnie is, as most actresses are, quite beautiful. Her long brown hair falls in curls about her shoulders and her green-brown eyes seem to shine with a light of their own. On the screen, she appears curvy and perhaps a bit on the heavy side, but that's only the camera. Most people are struck with how very small she is in person. At 5'3" and 100 or so odd pounds, Marnie is almost pocket-sized.
Her style is simple, yet chic. She tries to think of herself as an Audrey Hepburn-type (which is how she's being marketed), so her clothes are classic and understated. Alone in London, though, with a pair of sunglasses on, she's a regular tomboy. Put her in a pair of skinny jeans and a cardigan and Marnie is as happy as can be.
Background: A child of means, Marnie never wanted for anything growing up. Her childhood was rather lonely, but she had more than her share of toys and pets to keep her company. Raised by nannies and old family friends, she has a deep-seated resentment of her parents. A surgeon and a politician respectively, she understands that their jobs are important, she simply can't accept that they're more important than her. It's lucky, Marnie thinks, that she's an only child. One neglected daughter is better than two.
Marnie went to all the best schools. She earned top marks, starred in all the drama productions. Really, she excelled at anything she tried without really trying. Heaped with praise, Marnie soon became full of herself. If everyone else found her so brilliant, why should she deny the world her talent? Of course she'd never say anything like that aloud. She has an enormous amount of pride, but plays the part of a humble, bashful girl very well.
Before she enrolled in university, she featured in her first motion picture. Since, she's played the same role about five times. Marnie is always the innocent daughter kidnapped by terrorists, the virginal priestess who must instruct the hero, or the innocent friend of the crass female protagonist. It's a job, isn't it, but she still resents the typecasting.
After filming a well-received SyFy series, Marnie agreed to go on her producer's book tour. Chronicling the writing process as well as the shoot, the book is an important tool for aspiring filmmakers, or so Marnie tells herself. When push comes to shove, she's just happy to get out of America for a few weeks.
As for Moirine-
It's no small wonder that she was discovered by the cancellari shortly after Allen fled. Nearly seven months pregnant, it was deemed too horrific to hang her for her transgressions. Instead, she was imprisoned at the Hold and largely ignored by her captors. There was a new Occia, after all. She was just a slut who turned her back on Cita. No one was there to plead for her life. The Hour hated her, Others hated her, the Citadel hated her... With Allen gone, she was truly alone. Instead of weeping and feeling sorry for herself, Moirine grew angrier by the day. She muttered to herself, cursed anyone who was fool enough to show their face to her. If it hadn't been for her child, the only thing she could muster love for, she would have dashed her brains on the walls of her cell.
When the baby began ripping its way out of her, no midwife was sent for. The prison guards watched her suffer, listened to her scream. Moirine had been prepared for agony, but this was something more. Something was wrong. She called out for her brother to come to her, but he never did. For hours, she faded in and out of consciousness, always awakening to a worse pain. Finally, when she'd bled herself as white as her hair, Moirine took her last breath.
Naturally, the guards gossiped about what they'd seen and heard. Rumors swelled about the former Occia. Bitch got what she deserved, some said. Cita's will realized. They called her a brother-fucker, a false woman who deserved to die screaming a thousand times. Midwives lit incense and said wards against Moirine to keep her from coming for the baby she'd been denied. It didn't take long for Tyrol to weave her into their folklore.
And so she came back. Well, in some capacity, she came back. Riding inside a baker's daughter with red hair but the same green eyes and full lips, Moirine listened to the way the people who had once loved her spoke of her. Deserved to die a thousand bloody deaths... The baker's daughter was trampled in one of the riots that precluded the fall of Balfour. The next reincarnation was a Vaux girl. She was cut to pieces when the common people tore down her family's manse. Again and again she came back only to be slaughtered.
It's happened so many times and in so many places that Moirine doesn't care anymore. She's learned to sense her vessel's looming death and retreats so far inside of her that she doesn't feel a thing. She doesn't even bother to warn the poor girls. After all, she received no warning.
She has taken a liking to Marnie, though. Marina is an old family name. Marina Burrell... She's desperate to know whether this girl is a descendant of her Jude. Moirine still isn't sure whether her son died with her or was whisked away to an orphanage or, worse, the citadel.
Skills: Decent fencer (you don't walk off the set of a fantasy film without learning anything), excellent tree-climber, good sense of direction, good actress, decent singer, because of her 'other' she knows quite a lot of stray facts.